I have a friend that I have known for several years. He’s generally a well-meaning person. This man has a history of suicidal tendencies and self-harm. He has been in trouble with the police before for hard drug use and publicly making death threats to other people. And he has been clinically diagnosed with depression. This man has been able to legally and easily purchase multiple firearms over the years.

As somebody who has had depression in the past, I know that it makes you do stupid, sometimes dangerous things that you immediately regret. People with depression often do not act rationally, nor think of the possible consequences to their actions. Anybody who suffers from depression or has a loved one who does will know this to be true.The pain and frustration can manifest internally, causing a person to take it out on himself through self-harm or worse. A study at the University of Iowa lists roughly a third of the suicides in our state as being caused by firearms, surpassed only by asphyxiation. That is not a small number.

Other people express their depression more outwardly, and end up harming others. The ratio for homicides caused by firearms is even higher. The man I’ve spoken of is my friend and I would never wish anything against his well-being. However, for his sake and that of others, the depression factor alone should have been enough to disqualify him from buying those weapons. Let alone everything else in that list!

Gov. Reynolds recently said that she feels the gun laws in Iowa are "reasonable and responsible." If that is the case, then how could a person such as the man I have described legally and effortlessly obtain multiple firearms? Purchasing guns is far too easy, even when a person’s history should be setting off a million red flags. We do not have "common sense gun laws." Not when there is such easy access to something so deadly.